


Decisions

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Other, Roleplay Logs, Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond Theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 20:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9200513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: Roleplay Log - AU - Blue and Yellow Diamond have sent their respective Pearls to Earth for punishment, only to experience regret for the first time in their long lives. Unable to deal with this strange feeling, they meet to discuss retrieving what's rightfully theirs. // Alternate universe, part of a log I haven't cleaned, thought it'd be fun to let people read it in light of recent spoilers dashing my dreams!





	1. Come to Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written with Psykopsy on Tumblr, whose Yellow Diamond makes me shake in my boots. Thank you for playing with me, dear!

It wasn’t often that Blue Diamond left her chambers in search of company. Strictly speaking, the Judge had other Gems come to her for all matter of things—business and pleasure alike—and otherwise, she kept to herself. But then, she was even more rarely alone, truly and completely, and there was only one Gem she could speak to candidly about such things.

 

So she left alone, bade her Topaz guards stand watch outside her chambers until she returned, and walked (how rare, too, that she do so) with great purpose in each stride, until she came to Yellow Diamond’s control room.

 

Blue Diamond did not knock, but she allowed Yellow Diamond’s guards to dutifully announce her presence as she swept past them into her sister’s domain.

 

“Yellow Diamond, are you free, presently?”

 

Yellow Diamond was engrossed in a great screen showing a map, analyzing recently established trade routes. Some were obviously non optimal, and she studied how to make the best use of them. When a Jasper entered to announce Blue Diamond was at her door, she made sure not to show her surprise. It had been a very long time since she had last visited.

 

Without wasting a moment, she ordered to let the other Diamond in. And enter Blue Diamond did, surprisingly walking on her own legs.

 

"Never free, but nothing too pressing. I can accommodate you. To what I owe the visit, Blue Diamond?" Yellow Diamond asked, in her level, velvety voice.

 

“I came to report that the traitors have been intercepted, and are now living in exile, as planned,” Blue Diamond said, watching as the Jasper dutifully left the two alone. She didn’t sigh, but she did release some tension when she exhaled. Gliding came easily to the Judge, and she moved effortlessly up onto the platform her sister’s throne was on, extending a hand.

 

There was a short moment of silence. "Oh," she said, in a strange tone, watching her sister come to her in her weightless way. Yellow Diamond took the hand her sister offered almost without thinking.

 

"That is good," she said, but there was a subtle edge in her words, somewhat hard, somewhat ragged, not really defined.

 

Blue Diamond dipped just slightly, drawing Yellow Diamond’s hand to her lips for a light kiss—a sign of deference, in her chambers, but also rarely offered affection. “I also wished to see how you fared,” she said silkily, “I’m not surprised at all that you returned to your duties immediately.”

 

Yellow Diamond frowned, but still pulled the joined hands and kissed it back, in approval both of the respect and the affection. "I fare well, why would I not? There's no reason to hinder me from my work."

 

“Solaire,” Blue Diamond said softly, not quite admonishingly. “I think we both know each other better than that.” The Judge straightened, but kept hold on her sister’s hand. Yellow Diamond’s hand was always warm in hers, and while she normally preferred her element, enjoyed cool temperatures, it was always a comfort. “We have each lost something today.”

 

Yellow Diamond's frown deepened and she averted her gaze to look back to her star map, the betrayal still simmering under her skin. Working was a better way to spend such energy and there wasn't much available to do - since she fried all her systems - but her sister seemed determined to keep her from even that. Yellow Diamond wouldn't give in.

 

"How are _you_?" she asked back, not even trying to hide her deflection.

 

Blue Diamond would have had to be blind to miss the deflection, but she allowed it. “Beside myself. My heart is heavier than it has been in many eons,” she said simply. Her tone certainly betrayed no such thing. “I suppose grief is different for all Gems.”

 

She took a deep, useless breath. Sometimes Yellow Diamond felt as if taking air somehow interrupted her current for a moment. She let go of Blue Diamond's hand to touch her fingers to her blue chin.

 

"You should know no grief. This situation is unacceptable." Yellow Diamond with conviction, for there was a whole lot of unacceptable situations. Betrayals, losses, and the distinct lack of little screens close to her.

 

“I should not. But I do,” Blue Diamond replied, watching her sister from behind the safety of her veil. “They were ours for so long, Solaire. And they weren’t replaceable.” She paused, a humorless chuckle escaping her lips. “How strange that a pearl could take a piece of my heart.”

 

Yellow Diamond's jaw tensed and there was a muscle strung in her neck. A more apt description couldn't exist. Trust Blue Diamond to see through everything and put it in inconvenient words.

 

"That is only because they were allowed to," She countered, with some anger. She couldn't let herself accept she was bested by a pearl, no matter how precious she was. "Had we a whole string, this would never have happened."

 

“I suppose. But they were so lovely on their own,” Blue Diamond sighed then, staring out at the starry sky visible through the ceiling. “I always thought that our lost sister drove her pearl mad. But perhaps it was the Earth. That terrible planet.”

 

" _Her_ ," Yellow Diamond spat. Rose Quartz was an unfailing source of irritation, even before she turned her back on her own kind for a loathsome pile of mud. "Wouldn't surprise me if the defect on that pearl was caused by her. She was certainly trying to drive me insane..." she growled. "In a way, this is all her fault too. A chain of abnormal events started by her, distortion by distortion, until she got our pearls."

 

“Perhaps we should have guarded them better. Kept her from them entirely… A lesson learned too late, I suppose,” Blue Diamond sighed, turning to her sister with a delicate frown, a rare show of emotion. “I will miss mine. She served me very well.”

 

"We should have." Agreed Yellow Diamond, already knowing her pearl was far too intelligent to be held back by mere guards, if she was decided to do anything. The question to why she decided to betray her remained, but would have to go unanswered, though.

 

But even with the underlying anger, the bitterness of her Pearl being gone still bothered the Diamond and left her with a far away look. "Her absence is very... Bothersome." she said at last.

 

Blue Diamond nodded solemnly. “I am without my shadow, and it feels… wrong,” she mused, standing quite still, just as she had taught her Pearl to do. The Judge was quiet a moment longer, then; “Perhaps we should have given them amnesty.”

 

"No." Of that Yellow Diamond was certain. "She needed to be punished for what she did to me. To us." She quickly added. "My pearl was the one with access to the communication channel, and deliberately chose to speak with that filthy defect." Jealousy flared red hot once more. Thinking of that rebel Pearl as an individual separated from Rose Quartz made her temper even worse and she fumed for a moment, before regaining control.

 

"You did well in not listening to me, though." Yellow Diamond conceded. The thought of her punishment actually happening to her little Pearl made her fingers twitch with uneasiness. "I was far too harsh. She didn't deserve that." The one she wanted to see ground to dust was the thrice cursed rebel.

 

“And mine did not tell me. Although I suppose… those pearls, they’re so fragile. I’m impressed that you brought yours to me whole, for her transgressions,” Blue Diamond admitted, closing her eyes for a moment. She could still see her pearl in her mind’s eye, knew that she would for many centuries yet, and that knowledge was as welcome as the pain it brought. “I am, however, glad that you agree with my choice. It puts my reservations to rest.”

 

Blue Diamond's words made Yellow Diamond halt. Her sister's peace of mind wasn't entirely based on truth, and Yellow Diamond thought about the best way to explain that to her. For all her great qualities, Yellow Diamond wasn't the best in being delicate with her words.

 

"There's... An issue, Hope." she started, searching for the best way for her speech. "What do you know about the operations after the abandonment of the Earth?"

 

Blue Diamond turned to meet the other’s gaze, somewhat confused by her tone. The use of her nickname did not go unnoticed. “I know it has been in your hands,” she said slowly, “I washed mine of that planet before we entered the second era. Has something happened?”

 

Instead of answering, Yellow Diamond posed another question. "What could one do with a planet replete with minerals from Gem shards, populated by enemies, obstructing routes with the exceeding gravity generated by its mass, and irritating in general?"

 

“I would assume that we would have destroyed it long ago,” Blue Diamond said slowly, “Or else left it as a warning. If memory serves, we wiped out all Gem life on it… although apparently there were survivors."

 

"Precisely." Yellow Diamond said. "Destruction is the logical solution for a multifaceted problem." She touched the screen with the star map, cleared it and started to roughly design the project for the Cluster.

 

"The Earth was used to the best of its capacity to incubate the greatest geo-weapon created till now. And will be destroyed in the process." She concluded, swallowing.

 

Her pearl was there. Her little, defenseless pearl. Guilty, cunning, lying pearl. _Hers_. Not a circle had passed and she wanted her back as much as she wanted her dead.

 

Blue Diamond gasped, though the sound barely carried. “Solaire…” she whispered, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. She was thinking the same; her sweet pearl, her foolish little pearl, with no defenses, no means to protect herself.

 

Her _former_ pearl.

 

“They do not know,” she said softly, scarcely above a breath, turning again with wide eyes on her more volatile sibling. “How long…?”

 

"My pearl knows. I don't keep her useless and sheltered against the harshness of the universe. She was made from much better material then hordes of gems, she doesn't deserve to have her talents gone to waste." Didn't. Yellow Diamond cursed herself for her words, defending her Pearl by reflex. They were all true but she should stop saying them, she'd been betrayed.

 

"The Peridot's report was unsatisfactory." She changed the topic. "There's no precise date for the hatching, but estimates indicate some point in an earthling year. No longer than that."

 

“Your pearl knew, but you didn’t think to tell me before I sent the both of them to their deaths!?” Blue Diamond was hurt enough to raise her voice. Useless and sheltered indeed, she thought, turning away from her sister to stare back out at the stars. One Earth year was not punishment enough, but retrieving them in that time would go against her ruling.

 

"You know me, Hope..." Sighed Yellow Diamond, chastised, and didn't argue any further. She could recognize she was in the wrong and added to Blue Diamond's pain.

 

Blue Diamond said nothing, wrestling with her anger and grief, with the knowledge that her precious little pearl would live for mere moments, a blink of time for a Gem. She longed for the consultation of the traitorous sapphire, too, for a precise answer. If she had ever been one to come to tears, now would be the perfect time. She squeezed her hands together, ’til her knuckles went white.

 

Yellow Diamond finally got up and moved closer to Blue Diamond, resting her hand upon hers in a solitary silence.

 

After long moments, she raised her head. "This is a new fact for you." She said, slowly, apparently deep in thought. "Your ruling can be amended if deeply affected by new information withheld or not acknowledged beforehand, can it not?" There was no point in being deeply concerned with matters of law, since it was Blue Diamond's domain, but Yellow Diamond had a remembrance of a changed sentence.

 

It could. There were other loopholes in her laws, of course, and it wasn’t as if anyone else had been there to witness the ruling…

 

“I would take mine back,” Blue Diamond said quietly, turning her hand to grip her sister’s. “Solaire, I would keep her forever if I could. But my feelings cloud my judgment. Where else would we exile them? And how? Earth was the only colony we did not see to completion. The resources necessary…” She sighed. “Even that awful renegade showed loyalty and respect. And that filthy abomination as well. They swore to follow my instructions, Solaire, to change the punishment now…”

 

"Why should we concern ourselves with them?" Growled the Diamond, clenching her hand over her sister's, her hate rising at the mention of the renegade. _Why did my pearl want her?_  

 

"Let them and their faithless oaths be exploded into nothing! What matters what they think? Rule with your clouded judgment! Bring them back!" she insisted. Perhaps destroying the source of unfaithfulness would bring her Pearl back as she was before.

 

“You have the resources, not I!” Blue Diamond countered, “You have fleets—But they will know, Solaire! Our pearls will know our weakness; they’ll remember, always, that my law can change on a whim! And if they did conspire with the renegade, what then? Do you consider the breech in our trust treason or not?”

 

"To oblivion with the fleet! I'll retrieve them myself! Shatter the rebel myself! Keep them on a tighter leash, never to stray again!" Yellow Diamond barked back. Nothing would give her greater pleasure than saving one pearl and destroying the other at that moment.

 

"Give me leave and I will, by all the stars and this Authority, I will!" she declared, already standing to go.

 

“Is it or is it not an act of treason, Solaire?” Blue Diamond’s shoulders went almost noticeably slack. It hurt to see her sister so angry. She sympathized, as far as she could.

 

"It was!" Yellow Diamond snapped and punched her chair, adding yet another mark to it.

 

"She wanted her! Went behind my back to get her! I gave her all, but she couldn't do the same for me, Hope!" As always, Yellow Diamond's tongue got loose with her anger and her thoughts spilled in ways she never intended them to, too much or too confuse. "There's no reason behind it! I can't see any! Just pure betrayal!"

 

Blue Diamond listened, stayed quiet while her sister raged on, and reached for her fist, drawing her away from her poor chair. Always the volatile one, Yellow Diamond was bound to find some way to hurt herself someday… although perhaps, today, she finally had. “There are always reasons,” Blue Diamond said softly, “Everything has a cause.” She paused, “We are not foolish organics, Solaire. There must be some cause behind it. We Gems have rules. Especially pearls.”

 

"Tell me, then!" Yellow Diamond clung to Blue Diamond's hand. "I can't understand! It's grating me! Tell me, so I can forgive her!" She was a logical Gem, she could be forgiving if shown sound reasoning.

 

Blue Diamond shushed her with a quiet hum, the starting notes to a song, and squeezed her hand back. “I… can’t guess,” she said, which was as close as her pride would allow her to come to admitting that she simply didn’t know. “I would need more information. I would need it from them. But they’re pearls, my Sun.” Again, Blue Diamond paused, and she shook her head. “Perhaps they were too close. They were a set, after all.”

 

Yellow Diamond gave in, her anger starting to fade in face of Blue Diamond's placidity.

 

"Why?" She asked again, with an odd expression, frowning but not quite angry. "The same happened to us but we never gave in." They knew Rose Quartz since the beginning of times but not once did Yellow Diamond ever doubt her decision of turning her back on her after she left them for the Earth. "We gave the best example to follow." She trailed off.

 

“We’re Diamonds. We’re unbreakable,” Blue Diamond said soothingly, “We’re stronger than any Gem… And even custom pearls are weak. Perhaps they longed for old times. Perhaps they longed for the order they were born to. They are young Gems, Solaire.” She frowned, gaze traveling downward, to where her little Pearl should have been, just left of her veil. “We gave the best example, but she took their sister with her. Perhaps that is why.”

 

"Yes..." her bright eyes moved while she made mental connections. That was sound reasoning, She didn't consider things from a pearl's point of view. Her Yellow Pearl might be doing exactly that, trying to reestablish a disrupted order - albeit through her little, flawed way - as Her Diamond did.

 

"Yes. She can be forgiven for that. An ill-thought attempt to fix a perceived flaw..." And once again, all fault fell back to Rose Quartz.

 

Everything always did. Their bright, beautiful sister, who sullied herself with disloyalty and _organic life_ —everything wrong in the past several thousand years had been Rose’s doing. “I doubt…” Blue Diamond spoke slowly, “That either mine or yours could see what damage these calls could do. The threat to security. If we think small enough…” Her pearl was always so innocent, so sweet. Truthfully, Blue Diamond loved that little Gem, could forgive her anything. “Perhaps their smallness is at fault, Solaire.”

 

"That might as well be right..." Yellow Diamond deferred to Blue Diamond assessment of the situation and her gift for knowing deeper truths.

 

"Their smallness can't be helped, though." And no amount of wishful thinking could ever change _that_ , she thought, having spent more time than reasonable wondering impossible scenarios where they belonged to different ranks. But that was of no use. "If the fault rests in their nature as pearls, it is no true fault."

 

“Which then begets the question… what is the solution?” Blue Diamond wondered aloud, “Their traitor sister has no place in our society. But neither do our pearls have a place out of our society. Of our sights. But then, if the problem is their separation, the inability to cope with the loss…” Then the best thing would be for the three to be together. She sighed through her nose, stroking Yellow Diamond’s hand. “The problem is, and always has been, her having left us.”

 

"Curse her name and her days!" she spat. "I say we bring our pearls back and leave the other for the Cluster. Death is a very effective way of severing communications." came the ruthless answer.

 

"About the renegade, as Rose Quartz's possession, she is still banished from our domains, and her crimes can't compare to this... Series of misadventures." Yellow Diamond said, without an ounce of pity for Pearl.

 

“Solaire…” Blue Diamond sighed, “I am not suggesting we pardon Rose Quartz’s traitorous pearl. I’m only musing. Death may be what she deserves, but to be frank, I’m not interested in her fate. Or the Earth’s, once our pearls aren’t involved. I am trying to think of ours, how small Gems like our pearls would respond to that loss. Beneath your anger, you know the pain it caused us. And we’re infinitely stronger than any pearl.”

 

As much as she hated to admit, Yellow Diamond did remember the pain of losing Pink Diamond forever to her ideas, a pain she cultured and honed into hate to fuel her victory. She remembered their emerging, four perfect diamonds made of pressured stardust, and how their balance was shaken when the fourth sister left.

 

The misfortune made Yellow Diamond stronger, but Blue Diamond had reason to fear for their fragile pearls. "You think it could break them beyond repair?"

 

Knowing how delicate her pearl was, how devastated she had been during her sentencing… Blue Diamond sighed. “Nacre would be the one to consult on this, but given how fragile pearls are, it’s an… unfortunate possibility. Surely you saw their faces before I escorted them away.”

 

Yellow Diamond averted her eyes, ashamed for how she treated her precious pearl for a fault that wasn't hers. It wouldn't be beyond reason for her to be scarred for life, and the thought brought a sharp pain to her chest.

 

She could... Apologize... For the manhandling, the accusations, the fear and the pain unnecessarily inflicted on her. Her lovely Yellow Pearl... She walked out on her on the moment of her greatest pain, the poor thing... Yellow Diamond could only hope she was indeed made of better material than all other pearls to endure the trying times.

 

"Summon Nacre." Yellow Diamond said. If there was a possibility of having her beloved pearl back whole and safe, she'd take it.

 

It was something they should have consulted the Mother of Pearls on eons ago, but Blue Diamond agreed readily. Producing her own communicator from deep within the folds of her robe, she made the call, imploring Nacre to make haste and set aside her work.

 

Nacre was an ancient Gem, whose tireless work at producing perfect Pearls showed on her face. She was the crone, a close companion of White Diamond—but she was still below the other Diamonds, and agreed to be there as quickly as warp travel would allow. Blue Diamond did not thank her, but nodded in understanding. Traveling across multiple systems was instantaneous with the right warps, but Nacre often worked in strange places.

 

“She will come,” Blue Diamond said softly, putting her communicator away. Still, something nagged at her. “…How long before the Cluster emerges, do you think, Solaire?”

 

"Some point within the next earthling year cycle, the lack of precise reporting leaves too much space to imprecision." The Peridot had failed even that, something as simple as filling a report, and that left calculations open.

 

“Can it be stopped?” Blue Diamond asked cautiously, “Not for the preservation of Earth. But to ensure that it does not destroy our pearls."

 

"Objectively speaking, we can stop anything, sister. In practical sense, though, no, it can't be stopped." There was no detonation mechanism attached to the Cluster and no way to access it if not by Earth's surface. If they decide to do that, the Diamonds could, but it would be against their best interest.

 

The Judge sighed heavily, pressing her veiled face to her sister’s shoulder. “If only I had known,” she whispered, “If Nacre brings bad news, I do not know what to do. Law is so simple, Solaire… Individual interests are much harder to consider."

 

Yellow Diamond wrapped her arm around Blue Diamond's form. "I'll go and take what is ours, Hope. Nacre is old and knowledgeable, but we are Diamonds. No matter the hardship, we will prevail, and our pearls shall be with US to witness that." She said, with all the confidence a conqueror of worlds could have, and squeezed Blue Diamond.

 

“And if Nacre suggests we spare the renegade?” Blue Diamond asked quietly, returning the embrace, tipping her face up to meet her sister’s gaze. “What do we do with her? Keep her in a cage?”

 

"A cage would be an insult to our pearls and to ourselves." Mused Yellow Diamond. It would not be said their pearls shared material with a caged beast. She couldn't imagine her pearl would ever have desperate need of closeness with the rebel to create a need to have her around.

 

"If it comes to that, and there's no other solution but letting the rebel's existence continue, we can allow them to keep communication. _Under supervision._ " She said through her teeth. If she had any say, the renegade would be smashed under the heel of her boot, but Yellow Pearl's well being was worth more than that little satisfaction.

 

Blue Diamond nodded in agreement. Supervised conversation would have been—well, unwelcome, but acceptable. She remembered eons ago that her little pearl would sometimes smile with her sisters; she remembered vividly how brightly the three shone, perfectly suited to their mistresses. It had always been so endearing, seeing the three together—and now, though possible, the idea only made her heart heavy.

 

“I think I will have to speak to her again,” Blue Diamond said, pursing her lips in distaste. “After we speak to Nacre. I will not give our pearls false hope, but perhaps the renegade will have answers we can use.”

 

"You do that. It is still your ruling and I will abide to your decision. Which I expect to be the best." She said, her meaning clear. Both wanted their pearls back, and no force in the universe could keep them from what they wanted.

 

Blue Diamond nodded faintly, still somewhat lost in thought. “Of course. That is my job, after all,” she murmured, drawing away from her sister just slightly. “And I will do my best to ensure a fair and just ruling, once all the information is available to me.”

 

Yellow Diamond nodded shortly. "I'm sure you will. Your fairness is one of the pillars to our order." It truly was.

 

The Diamond Authority kept standing for so long for having perfected a balance between the Diamond's domains. Yellow Diamond's raw power was complemented by Blue Diamond's wisdom and both kept standing by White Diamond's will and harmony. The loss of Pink Diamond's nurturing had thrown them out of axis, but they knew themselves enough to regroup and stay standing. They were connected more strongly than before.

 

"When am I to expect a verdict?" She asked.

 

“I will speak to Nacre this cycle, or we both can,” Blue Diamond offered, “After that… I am sure in two days’ time, I should have all the information necessary to come to a verdict. And of course, you will be the first to know.” She paused, considering. “How long does it take to send a team of robonoids to Earth? We could repair the moon’s warp. It would allow us to bring them back without a ship.”

 

"Is it broken?" Yellow Diamond's frown was there once again, as was the anger creeping back into her voice. "What do they take us for? Did she truly believe that would hinder us, so she could keep them for herself?"

 

“Unlikely,” Blue Diamond said soothingly, stroking her sister’s arm. “On all counts. She knows we can get there; the renegade once belonged to one of us, after all. I imagine…” she paused, “It may have been to keep them from trying to return on their own.”

 

"Then she doesn't deserve the credit my pearl gives her. I know she doesn't disobey a direct order." Maybe her sister's pearl was another matter, being a sniveling mess when she saw her last.

 

"I will send a robonoid division right away. Pea-" Yellow Diamond cut herself abruptly. She hadn't got used to Yellow Pearl's absence in the brief time they've been apart. Now she expected she'd never have to. Pulling her sole screen to her, Yellow Diamond quickly typed the order and sent it to be carried. "Done."

 

“Excellent,” Blue Diamond nodded, carefully ignoring the slip. She had turned to her left so many times in the last rotation, so very many glances down to make sure her sweet little shadow trailed where she would not be underfoot—she would never let Yellow Diamond’s pride suffer from knowing that she’d caught her doing the same. “I will go to wait for Nacre, then.”

 

"Yes. Her assessment will be favorable. Our pearls are the best." _And there shall never be another like her,_ Yellow Diamond thought. The sooner her little pearl was back, the better.

 

After a moment she stared pointedly into Blue Diamond's eyes, nodded and unexpectedly added. "Your visit was appreciated, Hope." Her sister's name was truly fitting.

 

Blue Diamond was somewhat startled by the praise, and she allowed herself the faintest of smiles, grasping her sister’s hand to bestow another kiss along her knuckles. “I am glad, Solaire,” she said softly, “I also feel better, now that we have spoken. My only wish is to resolve this fittingly.”

 

As they did at Blue Diamond's arrival, Yellow Diamond took their joined hands and kissed back. "It will be. I trust you. We will be back to normalcy. Soon." She said, more sure about the future than any seeing Gem.

 

 


	2. In Full Confidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Blue Diamond returns with exactly the news Yellow Diamond doesn't want to hear.

When Blue Diamond returned to her sister’s wing of the palace, she was not any more pleased than when she had left. Nacre’s visit had gone smoothly, but the Mother of Pearl’s news had only confirmed her fears. Blue Diamond swept through the hallways to deep bows and blissful silence, but her mind swam with half-made decisions and incomplete plans.

 

The Pearls could not be kept apart forever.

 

Nacre had expressed surprise that it had taken so _long_ for something to go awry, and Blue Diamond had the lingering feeling that she was being chastised for the first time in millennia. Of course the Pearls longed for their wayward sister. Of course small Gems, with their limited understanding of the world, would try to return to their roots.

 

Of course Rose Quartz’s little Pink Pearl had contacted her sisters eventually, lest they go mad. They were a set, perfectly crafted _together_ , and White Diamond had never included instructions that they be able to function apart. It was natural that their design denied them this. It was part of the blueprint, and White Diamond’s instructions had been followed to the letter.

 

Damn Rose Quartz, creating this situation!

 

Blue Diamond did not knock, but she waited for the Jasper guard to announce her arrival once again. Outwardly, she appeared perfectly calm, serene as ever. Her soft voice didn’t waver, and she moved like water, sweeping her way into the control room when the door was properly opened for her.

 

“Yellow Diamond?”

 

Yellow Diamond's cycle had been very taxing. With the complete destruction of almost all her equipment and the absence of Yellow Pearl to filter and organize demands, work flooded in and already piled, only the most urgent matters receiving immediate attention. Them mere presence of a whole team of Peridots there, trying to fix her screens and consoles and complaining under their breaths, was a source of irritation in itself.

 

She was managing the movement of some prime battalions when a Jasper announced the other Diamond at her door. If Hope had bothered to walk there herself, she probably had ominous tidings. She instructed the Jasper to send her in and ordered the Peridots out. All else could wait.

 

Her sister glided in with her usual preternatural grace and her face betrayed nothing, damn her.

 

"Blue Diamond," she said in greeting, when they were alone behind closed doors.

 

As always, Blue Diamond greeted her sister with a kiss on the hand and an appropriate bob, though this time she indulged herself by not releasing Yellow Diamond’s fingers as she withdrew. It was a great comfort, having contact with another Gem, even if Solaire was bound to be furious at the news.

 

“I’ll be direct, Solaire,” Blue Diamond said quietly, meeting her gaze with eyes more tired than she liked to let on. The past cycle hadn’t been any kinder to her, though she had spent much of the time not speaking to Nacre in solitude. The magistrate sighed, the weight of her decision unpleasant on her shoulders.

 

“I spoke with Nacre about our present dilemma. It is precisely as we feared. The Pearls were designed to function as a set,” she paused, worrying the inside of her cheek just slightly before she continued. “Her recommendation is that they be allowed to continue contact, should we retrieve ours.”

 

Yellow Diamond responded the usual greeting with a kiss on the joined hands and eyed them suspiciously when Blue Diamond didn't let go. Must be worse than she thought.

 

Yellow Diamond clenched her jaw and it took much of her self-control not to clench Blue Diamond's hand in a vice like grip. The thought of her Pearl _depending_ on that other pearl for anything was revolting. She, and only she, should be the source of fulfillment for all Yellow Pearl's needs. But Nacre dared to say otherwise.

 

Certainly that wasn't the only way. There had to be other possibilities and she needed to know them all to come up with a proper plan.

 

"Or else what?" she said between her teeth. "What happens if contact is interrupted as it was for six thousand years? What are the other options?"

 

Blue Diamond had expected that kind of reaction, really. She sighed, running a cool thumb along the back of her sister’s tight knuckles, and shook her head. “She didn’t say. Only that White Diamond’s specifications when She ordered them for us included codependency.” Her voice betrayed her sadness, but only just.

 

“Nacre did mention that the longing was normal, among older Pearls,” Blue Diamond said slowly, “But she expressed surprise that I did not come to her sooner regarding their health. Our Pearls did extremely well together, but I cannot say for the renegade, or how she would affect them now. Nacre’s recommendation was to allow contact as long as possible.” She paused, “I have already refused some of her suggestions. She said that she could grow them again, with their Gems as the seeds. But there is little Nacre can offer us.”

 

"Grow them..." Yellow Diamond squinted her eyes, her pupils contracting in cold rage. "How _dare_ she?" Solaire pulled her hand away from her sister's before she hurt her. This definitely wasn't going according to plan.

 

"How long do they stand being apart? And how long to heal back to their natural state?" she asked with a bitter bite in her voice. Rose Quartz’s influence kept coming back time and time again and ruining her life, just like sickness did to organics. Yellow Diamond despised her for that.

 

"That planet is doomed. And the traitor can’t be allowed back in our systems..."

 

“I trust, then, that I made the right decision, rejecting the offer,” Blue Diamond said soothingly, tucking her hands into her sleeves to hide her urge to fiddle. It was an unseemly tic that rarely surfaced, but now, without her sweet little shadow at her side, it was so easy to twitch and reach out. It was maddening.

 

Blue Diamond knew that, for Nacre’s safety, it was better that she had spoken to her alone. But she didn’t have the same anger that Yellow Diamond did, had different questions completely. She closed her eyes. “The traitor could be transferred to another, uncolonized planet,” she said, “You have already decided against terminating your Cluster, so we cannot guarantee the longevity of the Earth for our pearls’ sakes. We can allow them contact until the Cluster emerges, which would give us more time to find a solution. We can contend with the damages to our pearls, do what we can for them, and keep life here in order to keep them from deteriorating. Nacre believes they would suffer from the traitor’s death regardless; they _do_ have some psychic connection, after all. More than likely, the renegade has deteriorated more than either of ours.”

 

"And now she's there, with them! How can a defective and deteriorated pearl be any good for them? Who knows what she may have already done? What manner of tainting and ruining?" Yellow Diamond snarled and started to pace. This messy situation with her Pearl always left her extraordinarily aggravated and agitated.

 

"I should send scouts to their moon," she mused loudly. “If we capture the renegade and exile her somewhere else the problem is solved, correct? Long distance communications should be satisfactory, no need to leave them there," _and away from me_ , she thought. The thing Yellow Diamond hated more - beyond the dreadful possibility of corruption - was that Pearl had access to Yellow Pearl while she didn't, and that thought occupied the front of her mind.

 

“Solaire, I did not mean that we should leave them there until your weapon emerges. I think we should retrieve our pearls promptly, allow them to communicate with the renegade until we come to another solution,” Blue Diamond said soothingly, watching her sister as she traversed the room, practically cracking in anger. The Judge envied her slightly, her raw ability to express her anger without repercussion.

 

Not that anyone would ever stop her. The Diamonds could get away with nearly anything. But the Judge had long ago locked her feelings away, even if her little Blue Pearl had stolen what was left of her heart.

 

Blue Diamond was quiet then, exhaling through her nose. “The renegade has informed me that Rose Quartz is… gone. So at the very least, we do not have to worry about her influencing our pearls.”

 

Like magic, Yellow Diamond stopped all her movement and stood like that, a parody of a golden statue. When she turned to face Blue Diamond, her eyes were wild, the only thing in frantic movement. "What?"

 

Beneath her sleeves, where no one could see, Blue Diamond gripped her elbows, nails digging into her gloves. “Rose Quartz is no longer on Earth,” she said, then, more quietly. “I don’t believe our Jubilee still exists.”

 

" _NO_!" Yellow Diamond roared. "Did the pearl tell you that? She's lying! It's not true!"

 

She walked briskly to Hope, searching her blank half hidden expression.

 

"She held that accursed planet from me, Hope! No one but us could ever defeat Jubilee! The pearl is lying!" she kept yelling.

 

“To what point and purpose, Solaire?” Hope met her eyes, bright blue eyes dull, sad, and tired. “What does Jubilee’s Pearl stand to gain by lying to me now, inviting us to that planet without protection, after she’s cooperated so far? I have thought of her every angle, and cannot imagine…”

 

Blue Diamond shook her head, looking away. “I am willing to believe the traitor on this. It would explain the lack of movement.” She paused, “And shouldn’t your Cluster have removed her from the equation on emerging? This is just… earlier news than anticipated.”

 

And then, without warning, she whirled on her sister. “You planned to destroy that awful planet with Jubilee on it, and never informed me until this disaster!”

 

"She's wanted and you know that! What you wanted me to do, Blue Diamond? Kill her with my own hands?" Solaire snapped back.

 

There was a pain in her chest, in the center of her Gem. Her sister was gone and they didn't know. Her sword wanted release, her body begged to go rampant, but she mastered them in the form of the coldest hate. No matter how much she hated Jubilee, how many problems she'd created through eternity, she was still her sister, a Diamond of the same dust she was formed, beloved in the same measure she was detested, and her departure needed to be avenged.

 

"Who is responsible?"

 

Blue Diamond shook her head, no. No to all of it. Her brows knit together, and she put her face in her hands. “Forgive me, Solaire,” she whispered. “I did not mean to lash out at you. I just… this situation…”

 

The reopening of wounds long ago ignored, but never fully closed, was more than Hope felt she could bear alone. But placing the burden of her own lack of awareness on her sister was unfair, and she knew it.

 

Her eyes stayed dry, but it took shocking effort. “I did not ask her,” she admitted, “I could not bear to hear her fate.”

 

Solaire cursed herself mentally in all languages known to Gems. She'd done one of the worst things she could do - break Hope's heart. She almost ran back to her sister and pulled her into her arms, hugging her tightly to her chest, as strongly as she could without hurting Blue Diamond.

 

"There's nothing to forgive," she said in a low voice, controlled for Hope's sake. "You're innocent and in pain. But I will find who did this. I'll hunt them down and they'll wish they never existed.”

 

She glared a hole into the wall, the translucent material allowing her to gaze into the universe. It was wide, but no distance could keep her sister's killer safe. But for now, the needed to protect the one against her chest.

 

"You don't need to think of this anymore. I will take care of everything," she murmured, resting the cheek of her helmet against the veil covering Blue Diamond's head.

 

Blue Diamond hesitated for only a moment before winding her arms around her sister, pressing her face into the warm, smooth pane of her armor. She closed her eyes, but said nothing for a long while, trying to gather her thoughts.

 

“It consumes my thoughts,” she admitted softly. “My mind is abuzz and my core aches. Oh, Solaire… It’s treasonous, but I miss her so. I was sure I had hardened my heart to this, but I am as softhearted now as I was then. It was naïve of me to believe that she could stay on that miserable planet without consequence, but I did. I thought… at least we could be apart and still exist. I never expected anything would happen to Jubilee.”

 

"It was bound to be us or she... She signed her death sentence when she left... But that doesn't diminish your pain..." she admitted, being awful at comforting. That was what White Diamond did best, what Pink Diamond did like a master.

 

"It is not treason... We were one before we were four. Losing her again is losing another piece of ourselves. Your grief is reasonable." Yellow Diamond kept on, without acknowledging the pain on her own gem. It was easy for her to deal with brief, flaming emotions, but that deep, melancholic hurt was another matter, one she'd deal with after her sister was gone and before her Pearl came back. So she focused in what she could actually do.

 

"I promise you I'll hunt them. Whomever did this to her."

 

Blue Diamond could only nod, throat choked briefly by grief that she couldn’t articulate. That her grieving was reasonable helped some; reason and logic were all she could count on when feeling tried to interfere. She missed her sweet Pearl now more than ever.

 

Perhaps more than her Pearl, in this moment, she missed the way things had been so long ago, when Pink Diamond had been there with them, brightening her sisters’ days with her brilliant smile and sweet countenance.

 

“Solaire,” she said quietly, “Is there nothing we can do? I have never had the fight in me that you do, but it is out of me now, where Earth is concerned. I only want our Pearls back.”

 

"Hope..." she let go of her sister. That was probably the closest Blue Diamond would ever get to admitting defeat and that didn't sit well with Yellow Diamond.

 

She had a heavy frown and a clouded face and stayed quiet for a long moment, thinking. She could change her plans. Bringing Hope's pearl back was higher up in the priorities now.

 

"Say the words. Declare they are pardoned and I'll arrange their return and take providences for their third part. I won't let them perish," she said with finality. "You'll have her back soon," she soothed the best she could.

 

For a long moment, she didn’t speak. Blue Diamond closed her eyes, slipping her hands back into her sleeves. What to do about their Pearls on Earth…

 

“The Pearls are to receive a full pardon,” she said finally, “The three of them. The renegade will remain on Earth for as long as it exists, unless you have other plans regarding the Cluster. It was Jubilee’s wish that her Pearl remain on that awful planet.” She paused, voice heavy, “I consider the loss of her Diamond punishment enough for her crimes.

 

“Our Pearls will serve out the rest of their lives here, and may continue contact with the renegade as long as they need. We will monitor their communication as needed.”

 

Blue Diamond's words put Yellow Diamond to action, and she grabbed the diamond communicator, but halted before turning it.

 

"Should I let the Earth live?" she asked quietly. She still wanted the chunk of rock dead, even more now it had robbed her of her sister forever, but Jubilee loved that accursed place with all her being.

 

With the matter of defeating the enemy army gone and with the heavy weight on the chest, Solaire looked at Hope for council.

 

Hope fell silent again. She too hated the Earth. But at the same time…

 

“I say we leave it,” she whispered, “In Jubilee’s memory. Wipe it from our star maps and never speak of it again—but let it stay there. Planets die naturally. It’s only a matter of time.”

 

Yellow Diamond nodded slowly. "Then I shall go to Earth once more. But before that, it's time to have our pearls back," she said, turning the communicator for her dead sister's channel.


End file.
